This Week in Golf - September 25th through September 28th

Golf Betting Lines

09/22/2008 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA TOUR - THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP - East Lake Country Club, Atlanta, Georgia - The PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs come to a conclusion this weekend and for the second straight year, the winner has been determined.

Last year, Tiger Woods came to East Lake with an insurmountable lead in the FedEx Cup and capped his win in the first-ever playoffs with a runaway victory at The Tour Championship.

Woods closed with a six-under 66, his worst score of the week, to pick up an eight-shot win over Mark Calcavecchia and Zach Johnson. The win was Woods' second of the playoffs giving him the original FedEx Cup title.

This time around, Vijay Singh enters The Tour Championship having won the first two playoff events. Singh needs only to complete all four rounds this weekend and sign correct scorecards every day and he will win the FedEx Cup title.

With Woods out for the year, a win here would also put Singh in the mix for PGA Tour Player of the Year. Woods won four times in six starts, while Singh and Kenny Perry have won three times this season.

Also in the mix is two-time winner Padraig Harrington, whose two wins were both major championships. However, Harrington is not in the field this week.

Singh, who also leads Phil Mickelson by nearly $1.7 million on the money list, could secure that crown with a victory at East Lake.

There are 11 players who competed at the Ryder Cup playing this week. There are 12 players who played last year that are at East Lake again this year.

The Golf Channel has five hours of coverage on Thursday and Friday, before handing off to NBC for the weekend.

The Fall Series continues next week with the Viking Classic, where last week's winner Will MacKenzie won last year.

EUROPEAN TOUR

BRITISH MASTERS, The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, England - Coming off a tough Ryder Cup, Lee Westwood returns to The Belfry to defend his title.

Westwood, who went 0-2-2 at the Ryder Cup, closed with a seven-under 65 last year to cruise to a five-shot win over Ryder Cup teammate Ian Poulter.

Just two of Westwood's Ryder Cup teammates will join him in the field this week as Oliver Wilson and Graeme McDowell will also compete at The Belfry.

Joining those three in the field will be a trio of former European Ryder Cuppers - David Howell, Darren Clarke and eight-time Order of Merit champion Colin Montgomerie.

The Belfry, this week's host course, has hosted the Ryder Cup four times.

The Golf Channel has coverage of all four rounds this week. Next up for the European Tour is the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Nick Dougherty claimed a two-stroke win there last year.

LPGA TOUR

NAVISTAR LPGA CLASSIC, Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail (Capitol Hill's The Senator Course), Prattville, Alabama - The LPGA Tour returns to action after a week off and remains on part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.

Capitol Hill's Senator Course hosts the Navistar LPGA Classic for the second straight year.

In last year's inaugural event, Maria Hjorth carded a four-under 67 in the final round to beat Stacy Prammanasudh by a single stroke.

The win was Hjorth's third on the LPGA Tour, but first since 1999.

Women's World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa headlines the field that hopes to wrestle the title away from Hjorth. There are also five of the top-10 players in the Rolex Rankings playing this week, as are 16 tour rookies.

The Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds. The LPGA Tour heads to California next week for the 20-player Samsung World Championship, where Ochoa won by four strokes last year.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

SAS CHAMPIONSHIP, Prestonwood Country Club, Cary, North Carolina - The Champions Tour returns after a week off and the tour comes back to the East Coast.

Mark Wiebe fired three rounds in the 60s to post a three-shot win over Dana Quigley. The win for Wiebe came in his Champions Tour debut making him the first to win in his tour debut since Mark McNuulty turned the trick in 2004.

Wiebe, who won twice on the PGA Tour, was the 12th player to win in his Champions Tour debut. He also tied the record for the youngest player to win on the Champions Tour as he was 50 years, 10 days old when he won.

All six players that have won this title are in the field this week. That includes Bruce Lietzke, who won the title each of the first two years the tournament was played.

The Golf Channel has two hours of coverage all three days.

Next week is the season's fifth and final major, the Senior Players Championship, where Loren Roberts was a runaway winner last year.